04/17/09 | Breaking Tweets

April 17, 2009

Featured TwitPic: Summer festival in suburban Sydney

"Gorgeous day at the Surry Hills Festival" (Posted by @dministry)

Thai protest leader shot

Per BBC News, the "yellow shirt" protest leader of the People Alliance of Democracy (PAD), Sondhi Limthongkul, was shot and wounded on Friday. In 2006, his protest demonstrations ousted the then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Local Twitter users in Thailand react:

matthew_hunt (Bangkok, Thailand) Sondhi shot in his car; driver badly hurt. But I thought Sondhi and his Manager Co. were bankrupt - how can he afford a driver (or car!) ?? 17 Apr 2009 from web

wetfdstamp (Chiang Mai, Thailand) So Sondhi's shooters, for 5 minutes sprayed auto-rifle fire into an immobilized car from close range and DID NOT KILL HIM?? ....HOW?? 17 Apr 2009 from web

hongsyok (Bangkok, Thailand) This is a week that Thailand made headlines news globally everyday. The incident this morning ensures that there will be more to come. 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

georgebkk (Bangkok, Thailand) Police say 84 bullets fired from M-16 and AK4 rifles were found at Sondhi's assassination attempt scene 17 Apr 2009 from web

sucha (Bangkok, Thailand) No one, red/yellow-shirted people, deserve death although he is Sondhi. Action must be taken against the assassination. wish he is alright. 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

nkoleszar (Bangkok, Thailand) #Sondhi's condition now called "serious" but his life is not in danger. Well, not from these injuries, anyway. #bangkok #PAD #thailand 17 Apr 2009 from web

A couple Twitter users discussed the possible identity of the assassins.

piriya (Bangkok, Thailand) BTW, that last one was about how Sae Dang denies Sondhi's assasination attempt, saying that nobody use a pickup truck to do stuff like that. 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

smartbrain (Pathumthani, Thailand) Gen Kathiya (#redshirt) says that it was the Abhisit government who gunned down Sondhi as pro assassins don't use pick-up trucks. 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

smartbrain (Pathumthani, Thailand) @stshuting Sondhi promised to expose Anupong, Suthep and Newin on their conspiracy to stage a coup tonight. Perhaps that's the reason? 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox in reply to stshuting

piriya (Bangkok, Thailand) @stshuting "Abhisit was able to pull this off beautifully because he listens to a good strategist" I kinda get the feeling it was him, lol 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox in reply to stshuting

Twitter reacts to Obama releasing Bush torture memos

Per guardian.co.uk, U.S. President Barack Obama released top secret memos that allowed Bush-era CIA interrogators to torture terrorist suspects. In an attempt to move forward, Obama will not be prosecuting the offenders but has ended their interrogation programs.

Twitterers spread the word about the memo release:

mhasko (Pittsburgh, PA) Obama releases 4 Bush-era memos about CIA torture, very little redacted. Read for yourself what our country did http://tinyurl.com/c4wzkv 17 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

stumbling_eric (Undisclosed) Woah. You can read some of the Bush Torture Documents online now. Thanks President Obama!... http://su.pr/2zqtgj 17 Apr 2009 from StumbleUpon

MalaproposDame (Undisclosed) Obama ends CIA interrogation program-crazy! http://tinyurl.com/c8ktjl
(thanks, @whoissuresh 17 Apr 2009 from web

KatyinIndy (Undisclosed) RT @tweetdej: RT stephrosendahl Ex-CIA Director, Hayden: Obama endangers security w/memo release http://tinyurl.com/c84xun #tcot #sgp #hhrs 17 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

Many Twitterers are debating whether Obama should absolve the crimes. Most call for accountability.

pir8dave (New England) Upholding the laws on the books is a duty of the President. Obama is wrong on torture prosecutions. http://bit.ly/4aevVY 17 Apr 2009 from TweetDeck

cscannella (NYC) Obama letting this torture go is going to to cast a shadow on anything positive he ends up doing with his presidency. 17 Apr 2009 from Tweetie

MonroeAnderson (Chicago, IL) Some change, Obama's wimp out on CIA torture is incredibly disappointing.
http://tinyurl.com/dgbmno 17 Apr 2009 from web

JAEsselink (Waterford, MI) @GStephanopoulos I am disappointed in Pres Obama closing his eyes to the torture done in our name. Now it will be stain on the USA forever. 17 Apr 2009 from web in reply to GStephanopoulos

Lemurs_Meerkats (Undisclosed) Torture = Bad! So, no Obama Love this week [from @katharinehay] b/c of this: http://tinyurl.com/dclo6y 17 Apr 2009 from web

HumanityCritic (Virginia Beach, VA) Maybe I'm wrong here: As much as I want to see them jailed, prosecuting Bush officials would cripple Obama's presidency. What do you think? 17 Apr 2009 from web

mumbly_joe (NYC) Or, if we absolutely must protest Obama, the fact that these guys are getting a free pass? WE CAN'T MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT RESOLVING THE PAST 17 Apr 2009 from web

Several Twitterers also respond to MSNBC Keith Olbermann's critique of Obama's decision.

FakeVirginia (Virginia) Keith Olbermann says President Obama is wrong on the Bush torture memos. http://bit.ly/S8vIt Could this be something the #tcot crowd likes? 17 Apr 2009 from bit.ly

kjpilot (Gramercy Park, NYC) I think Obama is right - no good to be gained by pursuing former Bush administration over the torture memos. Sorry to Keith Olbermann. 17 Apr 2009 from web

BrandonPickens (Undisclosed) Olberman is urging Obama to prosecute BUSH with war crimes and to keep the fight going NO MATTER WHAT! I find new ways to hate Olby everyday 17 Apr 2009 from web

yellowgnife (Decatur, GA) Listening to Olbermann giving hell to Obama for not prosecuting Bush. Like thats going to happen phtltht. 17 Apr 2009 from web

1,500 Indian farmers commit suicide this year

Per the Independent, more than 1,500 farmers in India have committed suicide on account of bad crops and considerable amounts of debt. Residents of villages producing bad crops insist the government should step in and take low water levels and the high suicide count into consideration when planning policies, according to the article.

The article states that 1,500 farmers conducted a mass suicide, however the report was misleading, as these did not occur all at once as is suggested. Twitterers tried to clarify the story through alternative sources, then commented on the report.

SanjayJha (New Delhi, India) #farmersuicides For more accurate detail on farmers sucicide in Indian state please visit http://tinyurl.com/d5h369. 16 Apr 2009 from web

arnoldyb (New Delhi, India) #India "Mass suicide" of farmers in Chhattisgarh seems to be an annual stat, not 1,500 farmers quaffing kool-aid all at once. Still, sad. 16 Apr 2009 from web

Azbats (Tallahassee, Fla.) @mcantelon @charenton @liberationbc The 'mass' is misleading but the suicide rate is 4 farmers a day due to this. http://tinyurl.com/d5h369 16 Apr 2009 from web

RickVoorhees (Colorado) How to balance news abt India's farmers. Unfathomable http://tinyurl.com/cqe35p 17 Apr 2009 from web

MaryCateOMalley (So. Calif.) What a tragedy 4 all humanity: 1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India http://twurl.nl/vvq73y 17 Apr 2009 from web

cfrew (Baltimore, Md.) An Unacceptable Loss:
My guts coiled when I read the headline on the Huffington Post: "1,500 Farmers in India C.. http://tinyurl.com/c2o8zd 17 Apr 2009 from twitterfeed

Ashton Kutcher becomes first on Twitter to 1 million followers

American actor Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) became the first Twitter user to reach 1,000,000 followers, beating out CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) and Britney Spears (@britneyspears) to the mark in a race closely watched by the Twitterverse in recent days.

The race to one million had been monitored by hundreds of blogs and news outlets, including TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNN, and ABC News.

Kutcher will celebrate the milestone live on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Friday. He has said that Oprah will send out her first ever tweet during the broadcast using the Twitter name @Oprah.

Kutcher passed CNN for the first time Thursday before CNN regained the lead after an on-air shout-out by personality Anderson Cooper. But Kutcher fired back with this tweet and his own broadcast via UStream.TV:

aplusk I'm am live on ustream now if CNN is gonna fight it out on tv I'll fight it out on the web http://ustream.tv/ashton 17 Apr 2009 from web

Here's a screenshot from the UStream broadcast of Kutcher watching with wife Demi Moore when he had reached 995,000 followers.

The Twitterverse celebrated the milestone.

berryanarchy @aplusk This is kinda exciting and it's good to see a celeb be a real person on webcam too 17 Apr 2009 from web

petervizel Hey @aplusk CONGRATULATIONS!! You DID IT!! You ARE the MAN on the MOON!!!! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c) 17 Apr 2009 from web

PaulJGorzkowski @MCHammer @kingsthings @aplusk CNN didnt stand a chance. Congrats Ashton! 17 Apr 2009 from web in reply to MCHammer

justicenathan Hey @aplusk goosebump time! twitter revolutionised! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c) 17 Apr 2009 from web

johnhall702 Hey @aplusk CONGRATS!!! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c) 17 Apr 2009 from web